Don't want to spoil anything because you really should, but this is very reminiscent of a plot point in one of the books.

Good news: it's all public domain (edit: it isn't). Whole series is there, at least the public domain ones. There was a newer one that wasn't public domain when I last checked, though that was a long time ago and it might be now.

Don't read it for nerd points. Read it to find out why it's associated with nerd points.

Edit: disregard above, no idea where I got that idea from, maybe from how easy it is to find the full novel online just by doing a search for it, I must have figured and then somehow along the way it turned into a fact in my mind.